{"id":50240,"date":"2022-06-14T14:05:33","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T14:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nobody-should-be-forced-to-come-out-as-rebel-wilson-was-famous-or-not-eleanor-morgan\/"},"modified":"2022-06-14T14:05:33","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T14:05:33","slug":"nobody-should-be-forced-to-come-out-as-rebel-wilson-was-famous-or-not-eleanor-morgan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nobody-should-be-forced-to-come-out-as-rebel-wilson-was-famous-or-not-eleanor-morgan\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody should be forced to come out as Rebel Wilson was, famous or not | Eleanor Morgan"},"content":{"rendered":"
L<\/span><\/span>ast week, Australian actor Rebel Wilson posted a picture with her female partner, US fashion designer Ramona Agruma, to her 11 million Instagram followers. Her public coming out of lei was met with a tidal wave of positivity. But Wilson’s hand had been forced.<\/span><\/p>\n The next day, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a column by journalist Andrew Hornery, who said he had already approached Wilson’s representatives ahead of her post requesting comment for a story about her relationship, and that Wilson had “gazumped” him by choosing to come out on her own terms – perhaps before she was ready to. The SMH has since removed the column and Hornery has apologized: quick, admirable steps towards owning irresponsible behavior. But the whole thing leaves a sour taste, not least for Wilson, who tweeted<\/a> that \u201cit was a very hard situation but [I\u2019m] trying to handle it with grace “.<\/p>\n The Human Rights Campaign defines outing someone as “exposing someone’s lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identity to others without their permission”. As I write this piece in a national newspaper, I question the value in covering Wilson’s propelled coming out story even further. But clearly, as a society, we again need to ask ourselves: what right does anyone have to claim someone’s sexuality as public interest?<\/p>\n Every public outing is the result of a series of conscious, human decisions. The SMH column, for example, would probably have had oversight from a desk editor, subeditor and senior editor, who all seemingly saw fit for the column to be published. When deciding to out someone without their consent, there may be justifications made about raising awareness or honoring love, now that same-sex relationships are more widely celebrated in society. Who cares these days, right? Let people be who they are! <\/p>\n But these mantras are a luxury for anyone who isn’t part of a minority community and has to face the sometimes complex reality of being “other”. Even within the LGBTQ community, we must understand why the consequences of outing may be felt so deeply (that Hornery himself is openly gay was a curious detail).<\/p>\n